Kabbalah and Postmodernism (Studies in Judaism) [Hardcover]

Sanford L. Drob (Author)

Book Description

Series: Studies in Judaism | Publication Date: February 25, 2009

Kabbalah and Postmodernism: A Dialogue challenges certain long-held philosophical and theological beliefs, including the assumptions that the insights of mystical experience are unavailable to human reason and inexpressible in linguistic terms, that the God of traditional theology either does or does not exist, that systematic theology must provide a univocal account of God, man, and the world, that truth is absolute and not continually subject to radical revision, and that the truth of propositions in philosophy and theology excludes the truth of their opposites and contradictions. Readers of Kabbalah and Postmodernism will be exposed to a comprehensive mode of theological thought that incorporates the very doubts that would otherwise lead one to challenge the possibility of theology and religion, and which both preserves the riches of the Jewish tradition and extends beyond Judaism to a non-dogmatic universal philosophy and ethic.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Sanford L. Drob holds doctorate degrees in philosophy from Boston University and in clinical psychology from Long Island University. He is on the core faculty of the clinical psychology doctoral program at Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, California, and on the faculty of New York University Medical Center. In addition to numerous publications in clinical, forensic, and philosophical psychology, Dr. Drob is the author of two previous books on the Kabbalah as well as articles on Jewish philosophy that have appeared in various journals, including the New York Jewish Review, for which he served as editor-in-chief for several years. Dr. Drobs recent work explores Carl Jungs intimate but highly ambivalent relationship to Judaism and Jewish mysticism, the connection between the Kabbalah and axiological ethics, and the role of the coincidence of opposites in mysticism, philosophy, and psychology.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 354 pages
• Publisher: Peter Lang Publishing; First printing edition (February 25, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1433103044
• ISBN-13: 978-1433103049
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,641,945 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kabbalah Consciousness, October 15, 2010

By 

Susan Rotenberg - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kabbalah and Postmodernism (Studies in Judaism) (Hardcover)

Sanford Drob's books are a gift to the world and powerfully written, and makes fascinating reading. Drob offers us his genius in order to present a compelling new argument in his book, the "Post Modernism; A Dialogue that takes the reader to recognizing a new foundation for language, as well as, a greater insight into psychology, mysticism, traditional religion and faith. His conclusions are rich, vivid, and contemporary with his propositions honestly, and generously put forth. Drob's Kabbalistic perspectives "extra-linguistic's" are as applicable to the role of language in Psychology/Philosophy/Theology i.e. dictum as that of many Western/Eastern writers.

I have read all Sanford Drob's books [@ 5 stars ea] sold on Amazon. I recommend ALL of his books for those readers who are looking to understand the Lurianic Kabbalah. You really should before reading the incredible book "Post Modernism; A Dialogue; read first; Drob's other books: the "Kabbalistic Metaphors"/ "Symbols Of The Kabbalah"/ and "Kabbalistic Visions CG Jung and Jewish Mysticism. Each book does become I believe for the reader a very personal process: it was for me "as it were, "setting a place for Elijah". Starting out reading ALL these books I thought I was well journeyed and read. However, each of the books are individually like lenses that did change my perspectives and prepared me with the knowledge I needed to read the book "Post Modernism; a Dialogue.

In Drob's book "Post Modernism; A Dialogue this literature does provide magnificent statements to understand how the Lurianic myth can be understood as a model of human creativity and explores the idea that the Lurianic dynamic is echoed in every act of language, and that it indeed reflects the very structure of writing and speech. And Drob will argue every time we write or speak we, in effect, set the Lurianic dynamic in motion. This to me was parallel from the diverse source of Biocentrism: the universe is created and re-created in our consciousness every time we interact with it and this is its most important moment of creation. This brought to mind for me; a new understanding of the nature of life by finally giving the Lurianic myth its due, as this argument of Drob brings forth a new grand entrance: to examine in greater detail, to account for the complexity of human life, or human health. I look forward to reading more from Sanford Drob.